Larry came to our benefit workshop last April for St. John’s Church #5 in the 7th Ward and then went with us to visit the various rebuilding projects they’re working on.

It was a pleasant surprise to discover that he’s the new president of NOREIA, the New Orleans Real Estate investment Association.

In my mind there need be no conflict between grass roots entrepreneurship and social justice. In fact, the two forces well-joined can create miraculous changes in material conditions.

Larry is developing a new model for harnessing ethical entrepreneurial energy to bring blighted homes back on the market in New Orleans, a city that needs this desperately. And if the model works in NOLA – and I’m sure it – it will work everywhere.

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